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source: CNN
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About 87 pilgrims were
feared dead yesterday at the Masjid-l-Haram in the city of Makkah, Saudi
Arabia, when a crane being used for an expansion of the mosque collapsed on the
worshippers.
The nationalities of the victims were not known and it was not also clear
whether Nigerians were among them as at the time of filing this report.
The
incident occurred during a heavy rainfall which was preceded by strong wind and
massive storm after pilgrims had observed the Asr prayer which was observed
around 4pm.
An
eyewitness said one of the cranes being used for construction was hit by a
thunderstorm during the rainfall and then fell on one the pillars around the
Ka’abba where thousands of pilgrims were circumambulating the holy house.
A
witness said several pilgrims were feared dead after the pillar fell into their
midst while they were performing the Tawaf (circumambulation) rites.
“I
was inside (the mosque) when this happened. The rain was too much; the storm
was too much. The crane fell on the people; it shook the mosque. I can’t say
the actual number of victims but many people were on the ground, injured. It
was very serious,” the witness said.
Leadership
report continues:
Security
operatives involved in rescue of the dead and the injured told reporters that
at least scores of pilgrims were confirmed dead while several others sustained
serious injuries.
Though
there has not been official statements on the death toll and casualty figures,
medics and eyewitnesses put the dead at 87 and injured at 180. Ambulances were
also seen taking the dead and injured away.
According
to statistics from the Passport Department, 796,581 pilgrims have so far
arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage that begins in another 10
days.
“Of
them 780,474 pilgrims arrived by air, 9,039 by land and 7,068 by sea,” a
statement from the department said.
Over
51, 000 nigerians are already in saudi arabia too for the hajj
The
government said it has taken extraordinary measures to ensure a safe Hajj
exercise.
Among
the foreign pilgrims are 100,000 each from India and Pakistan.
Prior
to the tragic incident, the Saudi Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques has said
that all expansion projects for this year’s Hajj were on schedule.
The
projects are part of the vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King
Salman and the country’s government to ensure that Makkah and Madinah are world
class cities, to enable pilgrims perform their religious rites safely.
The
construction taking place on the ground floors of the two holy mosques,
including escalators, would be ready for the hajj starting later this month,
the presidency said recently, according to a report in a local newspaper.
The
first floor in Makkah would be able to accommodate 278,000 worshippers. The
mataf (or the circumambulation area around the Ka’abba, would take 114,000
people, the report said.
The
first floor air conditioning covers 5,000 square meters; while the area for
wheelchairs on Ajyad bridge would be canopied. 600 fans would be operational in
the courtyards of the Grand Mosque.
And
in the Prophet’s Mosque, there would be 250 umbrellas fitted, with more than
20,000 toilets. Both mosques would have 6,000 areas for ablution in the
courtyards, the report said.
In
Makkah, the floor on the roof of the Grand Mosque was sceduled to be completed
before the end of the month to allow pilgrims to perform the tawaf, the
circumambulation around the Kaaba. The space created is over 76,000 square
meters, with a capacity to handle 107,000 people.
Meanwhile
the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has said it is working to
ascertain if Nigerians were among the victims of the disaster.
NAHCON
coordinator in Makkah and chairman of the transport committee, Dr Aliyu Tanko
told reporters on telephone last night that officials of the commission are at
the site of the accident and also working with the Saudi authorities to verify
if Nigerians were involved.
Five
Nigerians were confirmed dead due to natural causes in Makkah and Madinah
recently.
Madinah coordinator, Dr
Bello Tambuwal confirmed the figure in an earlier interview with newsmen.
Meanwhile on the same story
TheCable reports a crane has crashed at one of Islam’s most important mosques,
the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, killing at least 87 people and injuring about 154
others. Saudi
Arabian authorities confirmed the tragic accident on Friday on Twitter, adding
that the country’s civil defence authority’s rescue teams had been sent to the
scene.
There
was no immediate comment about the cause of the collapse from official sources.
Speaking
to TheCable, a source in the country said it was caused by a heavy downpour,
corroborating Saudi 1 television’s account that the crane had fallen because of
strong storms which hit the Holy land.
Saudi
authorities have taken a series of safety measures over the past decade aimed
at preventing crowd crushes after tragedies, the UK guardian has said.
The
country experienced a stampede in 2006, which resulted in 350 deaths, That same
year, a building collapse killed 76, while a stampede killed more than 200
people in 2004.
The
Masjid al-Haram surrounds Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba, where worshipers
visit during the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
The
Grand Mosque, which houses the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure towards which
Muslims worldwide pray, has been surrounded by a number of cranes following
reconstruction works wthat had been going on to enlarge the mosque to
accommodate up to 2.2 million people.
The
work has continued for the past two years and was expected to be largely
completed before this year’s pilgrimage, which was originally billed to begin
this September.
Pilgrims
from Nigeria are currently in the country observing Hajj rites as outlined by
the Quran, Islam’s Holy book.
Approximately 2 million
people a year make the pilgrimage in the middle-eastern country. 
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